calm ㅣ taehyung

final

열 - ten

"I'm sorry," Somi breathed. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

The two of them had walked to Taehyung's house in complete silence, and Somi's sentence broke it. She had spent the entire walk trying to formulate her thoughts into something coherent that Taehyung would understand but when it came time for her to speak up all Somi could do was apologise. She felt so stupid and dramatic, making a mountain of a molehill yet again. Everything was fine until she just had to go and panic like she always did. It was her fault that the peace was disrupted.

Taehyung guided Somi to sit down on his bedroom floor next to him, their backs leaning against the bed frame. "Why are you apologising? You haven't done anything wrong," he said. "You don't have to be so nice about it. I know I'm.. I'm a hard person to be friends with." Taehyung looked taken aback. "What are you talking about?" "Y'know. When it's too much," Somi mumbled, embarrassed to address her panic attacks by name. Taehyung's confused face settled into a sympathetic one. "That doesn't make you a hard person to be friends with. Really, it makes me want to protect you even more, you know?" Somi's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" She said in a tone both doubtful yet hopeful. "Isn't it annoying though?" "Not at all. Is it annoying to take care of people you care about?" He replied, giving her a small smile. Somi tried to smile back but it seemed like more of a grimace. "There you go again," she whispered. "Again with the sweet things I don't deserve to hear."

It was suddenly quiet, yet Somi's whisper seemed to echo. At least it echoed in Taehyung's mind. Somi bit the inside of her cheek as if she could simply gnaw away the tension that had settled in the air. Is this it? She thought. Has he realised what a waste of time I am?

"That's not true," Taehyung said sharply, startling Somi. She wondered if he had somehow read her thoughts. Hell, they were so close he probably could do so if he wanted to. He could always read her like a book. "Of course you deserve to hear sweet things. You deserve the world, Somi."

Her eyes widened in surprise. Taehyung's eyes mimicked hers as if he had only just realised what he had said. Breaking eye contact, he instead became very interested in the carpet below himself, tracing the pattern with his finger. Somi pressed her lips together as she processed his words. She had heard him loud and clear and yet she couldn't bring herself to trust her own hearing. She needed to make sure.

"What did you just say?"

It was a whisper, and a hoarse one at that. She barely heard herself, so she assumed Taehyung wouldn't either.

But he did. Nothing ever got past Taehyung.

His eyes lifted to meet hers, a slightly pained expression on his face. He looked like a child about to be told off by a parent. "I didn't imagine it being like this," Taehyung admitted. "Like what?" Somi asked, lost. "Here. In my room. I wanted to take you somewhere special." "Special?" "Like.. somewhere memorable. It doesn't feel as important if we're just sitting in my room, like there's nothing interesting about this room and Dumpling is watching us and it's weird-" "Tae! What are you talking about?" Somi interrupted. She had never seen him babble like this before; he was usually so calm and collected. "Oh! Sorry," Taehyung apologised, still visibly flustered.

He then fell silent, focusing on tracing the lines on Somi's palm. She watched his fingers tracing the thin lines. It tickled a little but it calmed both of their nerves. "Let's play the question game," he said, not looking up. Somi slowly nodded. The question game meant answers, which was exactly what she was looking for right now. "Who starts?" She asked. "I will." He answered.

"How are you feeling?" He finally met her eyes, halting his palm tracing. Somi smiled slightly at his simple question, then pressed her lips together when she realised she didn't have a simple answer for him. "I don't know. I've been feeling kind of weird lately," she admitted. Taehyung looked ready to shoot more questions at her but he remained silent, waiting for her to finish. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked, causing one corner of Taehyung's lips to raise in a half-smile. "Question stealer," he muttered, eyes sparkling. "I phrased it differently though," Somi pointed out. Taehyung hummed. "I'm the same as you, I think. I've felt kind of... out of sorts recently," he told her. "Really?" "It's not your turn!" He scolded. "Oh. Sorry," Somi mumbled sheepishly.

"I think.. Or, I hope.. I hope that you are feeling weird for the same reason I'm feeling weird," Taehyung said slowly, choosing each word with great care. "What do you think?" "Well, to answer that, I'd need to know what you're feeling," she said hopefully, forcing herself to ignore the flips she felt within her stomach.

Somi hadn't asked anything but they both knew a question was hanging in the air; an elephant in the room. Taehyung took the moment of silence to study Somi's expression as if it would be the last time, as if she would disappear any moment. He took in her freckles that he had counted so many times, her dark eyelashes that fluttered when she was sleepy. Her rose coloured lips that he thought about a lot more than he should. With these images in his mind, he finally felt the sense of courage he so desperately needed.

"My heart beats so fast sometimes I think I'm going to have a heart attack," Taehyung said suddenly, startling Somi. "Sometimes I can't sleep at all. My brain just won't shut up about you." "Tae, what are you-" "My hands get so sweaty sometimes, which sucks because then I can't hold your hand. And I like holding your hand," he continued as if he didn't hear her. He couldn't stop now; it was all or nothing. "So that's why I've been feeling weird lately, and it could be one of two things. Either I'm dying of some disease I didn't know I had or I'm in love with you, Jeon Somi. And I'm pretty positive it's the second thing."

Somi's mouth fell open in shock. Her brain had turned to mush and she could not put together a coherent sentence in this moment, so the two sat in silence. The only ambient noise was the sound of Dumpling purring from the bed behind them, until Taehyung awkwardly cleared his throat. He had lost his nerve a little since his outburst, and he was now avoiding eye contact at all costs. "I hope this isn't stressing you out, because that's the last thing I want. I just wanted you to know-" "Ask me," Somi interrupted. "..What?" "It's your turn to ask me a question," Somi reminded him, swiftly moving closer to Taehyung. The boy was so taken aback by her sudden confidence that his mouth had now fallen open slightly too. They were sitting knee-to-knee now and her proximity was making it hard for Taehyung to think properly. "I.. uh.." he willed himself to look her in the eyes, and he was instantly glad he did. Somi's eyes were so full of warmth in this moment, and they were curved in the corners, the telltale sign that she was truly happy. He saw her answer in her eyes before he had even asked the question.

"Do you feel the same way I do?" He asked. In response, Somi leaned in and softly kissed Taehyung. His mind went completely blank and all he could focus on was the feeling of her lips on his, a feeling he had been dreaming of for so long. Just as he was getting used to it, Somi pulled away. It was too quick for Taehyung's liking - he felt like he could do that all day. However, looking back into her eyes, Taehyung knew there would be plenty of time for kissing later.

"You didn't answer my question," Taehyung said teasingly, squeezing Somi's hand. "Wasn't that kiss an answer?" She countered, giggling. "You know the rules of this game by now, Jeon Somi. Do you feel the same way I do?" He repeated, resting his forehead on hers. Somi closed her eyes, focusing on how light her heart felt in this moment. "Yeah, fine, whatever," she joked, but they both knew she was just as smitten as he was.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who read all this! It made me so happy to see people viewing and voting on my chapters, so thank you for that. I will be writing more books after this, so feel free to follow me to keep updated on my latest stories.

I will eventually go through this entire book and edit some parts here and there. The story will stay the same, I will just be improving on some things to make it a better reading experience and all that business~~

Thank you for all the support!